By Irishexaminer.com,Rory Dollard

Copyright irishexaminer

England went on to win the tournament but a five-run victory in the group stage goes down as one of Ireland’s finest results.

From Wednesday, they will face each other three times in five days in Malahide, where Jacob Bethell will captain England for the first time in the absence of the rested Harry Brook.

“Any time we play England we know it’s a nice rivalry between the two teams and it’s been like that over the years,” said head coach Heinrich Malan.

“This is the first time we’ve played a series against them but we’ve faced them twice in T20s – the first was rained off, then that special night at the MCG. It’s setting up to be a nice, exciting week.”

While England are going in without their Test regulars ahead of the Ashes, with Bethell and Rehan Ahmed perhaps the only squad members who will make that trip in November, the hosts are also under strength.

Seamers Josh Little, Mark Adair and Fionn Hand – who all featured in the memorable success three years ago – are not fit for duty, leaving a test of the Irish depth chart.

“It’s never ideal when you’re missing some of your quality players, we can all agree on that,” said Malan.

“In the same breath that creates opportunities and this is definitely one of those. We see it as a benefit, not necessarily a challenge.

“The players that do come in get a better feel for the pace of international cricket and if things don’t work out they’ve got a couple of areas they can go back and work on. If things do work out, we’ve got some nice competition in our squad.”

Prendergast named ICC Women’s Player of the Month

Meanwhile, Ireland Women’s 23-year old all-rounder Orla Prendergast has been announced as the ICC Women’s Player of the Month for August – becoming the fifth Irish women to receive the honour.

Prendergast was named the Player of the Series in a home T20I series against Pakistan that her team won 2-1. She compiled 144 runs and took four wickets in the series. She continued her run of form in the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup Europe Qualifier, where the Pembroke all-rounder made 244 runs at an average of 48.80 and a strike rate of 127.08 and took seven wickets.

Speaking from the UK where she is playing for the Blaze in the 2025 Women’s Metro Bank One-Day Cup, Prendergast said:

“I’m delighted to have received this award and would like to extend my thanks to the ICC and anyone who voted for me. I’d also like to acknowledge my teammates and our support staff who have worked hard all summer to come away with some important series wins.

“The T20I series win against Pakistan was the highlight of the summer. Additionally, we had a brilliant series T20i and ODI win against Zimbabwe and completed a clean sweep at the European T20 Qualifiers. We’ll be looking to build on these performances into our winter series and the Global T20 qualifiers in January.

“Personally, though, this award means a lot and further validates the decision I made five years ago to pursue cricket as a career. When I was growing up, that wasn’t an option. But today, a young girl is able to see women’s cricket being played live, on TV or online. Visibility is so important in growing interest and participation in the sport, and equally, Awards like this one help to reinforce that growing status of the women’s game globally. So, I’d like to thank the ICC for continuing to back women’s cricket and raise the profile of women cricketers around the world.”